Quebec City (ots/PRNewswire) - Agricultural and agri-food cooperatives are experiencing worldwide success, making up nearly half of the entire cooperative movement and contributing to global food safety.

With this in mind, the growth of the cooperative business model in the agricultural sector will be a key topic of discussions at the 2012 International Summit of Cooperatives. Many of the top agricultural cooperatives have already confirmed their attendance.

Thanks to the cooperative model, agricultural producers are able to take control of the food processing and distribution process, thereby decreasing their dependence on intermediaries while at the same time boosting their income. This is how agricultural cooperatives help producers become financially secure while also contributing to global food safety. In 2008, agricultural cooperatives that were among the 300 largest cooperatives in the world generated gross income of US$472 billion.

Cooperatives have demonstrated their resilience in the face of numerous financial, social and environmental challenges," says Stéphane Bertrand, the Summit's Executive Director. "The speakers we are announcing today will demonstrate this extraordinary capacity of cooperatives - from the biggest to the smallest.